Sunday, February 22, 2009

Heralding the Dawn

You know, it just keeps getting harder and harder to find or even make the time to work in my studio, but here's my latest offering. I intend to use it as the opener for my next homegrown album. I'm also considering it as a possible candidate for my entry into that contest I mentioned earlier.

The tune is called Herald of the Dawn. I was in the mood to do an upbeat, guitar-driven piece, and that's what it is. I mean, there is nothing but (lots of) guitars, bass, drums, and "vocals". (I thought about putting a sax solo in the middle, but recording in the middle of the night led me to decide to stick with guitar.) I actually pieced it together out of two separate, incomplete song ideas that seemed to segue well into each other. I originally intended to write lyrics for it, but I was feeling very uninspired. Besides, I think the hummed chorus I finally put in works better, anyway.

The drum track worked very well with none of the problems I encountered with "Give Us Back". I think the chief difference was that I made it directly using Sonar (with quantized real-time recording supplemented with some step programming) instead of importing a generic MIDI file. I consider it a valuable lesson learned, though it could hamper the creative process a little.

Give it a listen and tell me what you think. Is this a viable contest entry, or should I go with something else? (So far the "most likely candidates" list includes "Sign Sonata", "Secret Identity", "Beyanam", and "Wakannai!", with "Live With You" and "Erweina" as runners up. I'm really hoping for some feedback...and I don't mean of the amp variety!).

8 Comments:

Finally a song named for me and you don't even spell my name right...sigh.

Seriously, though. I like the flow of the song and the guitarwork had a great melody. It sounds like it is waiting for lyrics; the manner of the way particular phrases were repeated and the way transitions flowed suggested that to me. Others may feel differently.

SnabudawnThanks! I really did want to write lyrics for it, but I couldn't come up with anything that sounded even halfway good. Just not much happening now to inspire me.

DaveAnswer: I don't listen to the radio. I lost interest in it years ago.

Frankly, I don't give a damn whether my music "stands out" or "blends in". I also couldn't care less whether it's original or based on traditional elements. My only concern is whether or not I feel satisfied with the result. If I can listen back to it and feel like it's worth listening to again, I'm happy with it.

"Wakannai!" has probably been my most successful song to date, as bootleg copies of the original version are apparently still circulating among the ALT community. It's also one of few songs of mine that I have performed live. Believe me, I am seriously considering it!

I just managed to listen to both ZenZen Wakannai and Herald of the Dawn and I'd go for Herald of the Dawn. Wakannai clearly is for the 90s (though rock is timeless).

I have some comments on Herald though, though it may tell my ignorance of music..what the heck..

Three distinct parts I like about it. Firstly, it's the catchy tune at about 00:27 and subsequently at other places. Good, keep that up. I like the part from 00:14 right up to 00:25 as well as the portion from 02:28 to 02:50. I noticed a distinct muffleness from about 3:03 onwards. That could be intentional.. or a system glitch.

If I were to modify this piece, I would do the following:

Repeat 00:14 - 00:25 and then after some 10 or 15 seconds or so, bring on the drums. Right now, I feel your beginning of the guitar part is a bit too long (right up to about 01:20) - it got boring. Oops! This is strictly my two cents, MM. What do I know about writing music, eh?

About

I came to Japan in 1990 for what was supposed to be a two-year stint. Then, by some bizarre stroke of fate, I got a real life, so I'm still here. For a gaijin with an imagination and more than his share of sensitivity, these islands are a never-ending source of adventure.

About Me

I was born on a rainy day on the Oregon Coast (no surprises there) and through a rather convoluted sequence of events wound up in Japan. I'm a teacher by trade, moonlighting as a musician and composer. I also do quite a bit of writing on the side. I'm a dreamer, a thinker, a sayer, and a doer all wrapped in one deceptively mild-mannered package.